Congratulations Are in Order!

I’ve mentioned that you can request songs, so please do! Just know, that unlike my brother Jeff, I’m rubbish at remembering birthdays. I mean, it took me a week and a reminder to do a Mother’s Day Song. So if you want a song for a birthday or special occasion, just let me know. Use the message box or hit me up by email (jeffssongoftheday at gmail dot com) or on the socials.

Lots of graduations are going on! Susquehanna University here in town had theirs over the weekend, and others near by over the previous two weeks. Today’s music dedication goes out to two graduates from their proud momma, my friend Christine. Tessa Romani graduated on Friday from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre with a degree in Exercise Science and a minor in Psychology. Her sister, Isabella, now Dr. Isabella Romani, graduated the week before from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry!

Fantastic news and congratulations to to both of you! Sometimes we have a two-for-Tuesday feature, so I guess we can call this “more for Monday.” You each deserve a song, and your mom had some great suggestions. First up, one of my favorites, “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. It was the third single from her debut album and her first top ten hit in the US.

The second song is from two music legends, Whitney Houston and Maria Carey, recorded for the 1998 animated film The Prince of Egypt. The full version played over the movies ending credits and was featured on albums by both artists.

So, as you go out and write your own stories now, believe in yourselves! You have reason to be proud.

Belated Mother’s Day Post: My Little Buckaroo

Some things are hard to talk about. My apologies, but today’s is one of them. Someone close to me mentioned that I didn’t play anything for Mother’s Day last week, and while the omission wasn’t on purpose, I also didn’t mind just letting it slide by. Not adjusting for leap years, it’s been thirty seven years, one month, and two days since my mother died. And it’s still hard to talk about. Sometimes I need to, and now that it’s been brought up, I guess it’s one of those times.

I loved my mom so much. We were very close. It’s been the topic of a lot of poems over the years, very few were published. Today, the only thing I want to share is this lullaby that she used to sing to me when I was quite small. Written by Jack Scholl, “My Little Buckaroo” was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1937 for his album, Cowboy Songs, but the entire album wasn’t released until nearly a decade later. History gets a bit cloudy as some say it was the B side to the single “I’m an Old Cowhand,” but other evidence shows that “I Can’t Escape from You” was the B side to that single.

Whatever the case, it was later recorded by the likes of Slim Whitman as well as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. But I like to think that it’s this first airing of the song, sung by Dick Foran, that my mother first heard. It was performed in this scene in the movie Cherokee Strip in 1937, and though Mom’s voice was much softer as she stroked my hair and crooned this to me, the pace and the notes all sound just right for how I remember it.

Don’t you realize,
My little Buckaroo,
That it was from a little acorn,
That the Oak tree grew?
And remember that your dad,
Was once a kid like you.
So go to sleep,
My little Buckaroo.

Happy Mother’s Day, belatedly to the moms who read this. Thank you for reading and singing to your children. We will cherish it all our lives.

Flock of Seagulls, The More You Live

Yes, we’re going back to 1986 or 1987 with this photo, my Flock of Seagulls hair phase, when I was skinny, beardless, and years away from going gray. I remember that it was tricky because it would curl up on one side in the back and curl down on the other. Anyone else used to use those round brushes to try for that feathered, Farah Fawcett look? I was first thinking this was somewhere near Norfolk, Virginia, but looking at those boats, I suspect his was near Cape May, New Jersey. I must have used it as a Throw-back Thursday post, hence the neon hashtag.

The song for today, “The More You Live, the More You Love,” was released by Flock of Seagulls as the first single from their third album, The Story of a Young Heart, in 1984. While it wasn’t their biggest hit, I love this video because it was recorded on the volcanic rock formations at the Giant’s Causeway on the north coast of Northern Ireland. A special place to me because I was there in both 2006 with my oldest, Josiah, and again in 2011 with Brian. Both times were to visit my dear brother from another mother, Vincent.

And while I promise to never be one of those people who annoyingly corrects non-birders on this, I will say for the sake of any picky birders reading this: There are many species of gulls, but no species called “seagull.” Nice touch of the band, including one in the video. I haven’t looked up which species that is. I’ll leave that homework to you if you’re interested.

Robyn, Tell Your Girlfriend

It was 2009, a pivotal year in my life. The end of a ten-year relationship, the loss of a home I had put money and sweat into, and eventually the loss of a job and the beginning of a new one. Living alone again for the first time in a decade was painful to get used to, even though the relationship I left had become a bad one.

But it was a good year too. All those new beginnings, including going back to university to finish my degree, and after nearly a year on my own, falling in love again. And fifteen years later, I’m still in love and with that same wonderful person. In fact, he’s the one who introduced me to music by Robyn, Swiss pop star and singer of today’s Song of the Day from 2009.

Here’s Robyn with the important advice (gosh, I hope you’re not in the mess she’s singing about!) that it’s time to “Tell Your Girlfriend.”

By the way, how did it get to be Friday? And how is everyone out there today? You doing alright? You being kind to yourself? Good. Good.

The Yardbirds, For Your Love

We started with crows this week, first by counting them and then by tagging along with one and a “vending machine repair man.” And just when we thought we were done with crows, they got “Jealous again.” So, the next logical step was to look for more yard birds. I don’t know if you get crows in your yard. Our black yard birds are usually starlings and grackles. Today I had robins, house finches, and even waxwings (for the first time since last year!) in the berry bushes.

Image from Bradford Timeline

What kind of yard birds do you have? I’d love to know in the comments. When we went to visit Jeff in Gainesville, we saw Boat-tailed Grackles, Anhinga, and even Mississippi Kites near the hotel. One of the main reasons for my wanting to play music by today’s band, though is because it takes me back to my childhood by reminding me of the mix of rock, blues, and psychedelic music that my older brothers listened to.

“For Your Love,” was their first hit that charted in the top ten in both the US and the UK. It’s also the song that marks the beginning of the change over from Eric Clapton to Jeff Beck on guitar. Rumor is that Beck disliked the song and the general move away from their originally more bluesy sound.

Speaking of sound, when they asked Brian Auger to play on this single, he wasn’t expecting that the only keyboard in the studio would be a two-tiered harpsichord, but he played it anyway. The whole session only lasted a few hours and on the way home Auger said to himself, “Who in their right mind is going to buy a pop single with harpsicord on it?”

And here we are. The Yardbirds from 1965 and their biggest hit, “For Your Love.”

I Promised this Week Wouldn’t All be Crows

But Micah, recent birthday boy, has suggested that we could wrap up a trilogy of crow themed bands with a song from the Black Crowes. Now this group has had its problems over the years, breaking up due to a various differences, even though two of the key band members are brothers. But they are back together minus the non brother, Steve Gorman, for what they are calling their Happiness Bastards Tour.

The Black Crowes, Photo by Ross Halfin

The brothers were in Philadelphia just last week and are now in the UK and will be touring around Europe for the next month and a half. They are probably best known for their debut single from 1990 called “Jealous Again.”

I don’t know if this counts as Micah’s birthday request, but let me use this as a moment to remind you that I’m happy to take requests, as Jeff was too when this was his gig. In fact, like Jeff, I sometimes play songs related to holidays, and I apologize to the moms subscribed here for not doing a Mother’s Day song. After 37 years, it’s still a little difficult for me on Mother’s Day. But I’ll see what I can come up with.

Anyway, if you have a crow story for us, please share it in the comments. Sign up to get these (semi) daily song posts in your email and enjoy reading and listening to some of the past posts of Jeff’s Song of the Day. Share the music if you enjoy it, please! And don’t be shy. We’re glad you’re here.

Every Day Is a Winding Road, Sheryl Crow

So, yesterday it was Counting Crows, why not follow up with Sheryl Crow, especially because this is one of those rare songs that got a lot of airplay through the early 2000’s and I just never got tired of it. She’s on tour, by the way, and she’ll be in Harrisburg, just an hour to my south, in October, for those of you in Pennsylvania.

1996 was the year, and this was the second single from her self-titled first album. The first single was “If It Makes You Happy.” My youngest, Micah, was born in ’96 and just recently celebrated his birthday, so while he’s pondering over a birthday request, we’ll at least give him this one in his honor. There were lots of car rides over winding roads, up hills and mountains in his growing up years, riding between his mom’s place and his dad’s, so I won’t be surprised if this is in the soundtrack of his childhood.

Counting Crows (and other birds)

Pardon me, as one of my nerdy hobbies becomes today’s story.

I took a five-day hiatus from JSOD as part of a couple days vacation to prevent burnout. After a few weeks of no weekends (or only one-day weekends), I badly needed some me time. That included a four-day weekend, in which World Migratory Bird Day was sandwiched between two days of some time with my sons and my hubby, but mostly of rest and down time. God, I’m glad I did that.

And I’m extremely happy that I did the birding big day on Saturday. I was up before 5:00 am and birded all over the county with my buddy Bryce until almost 6:00 pm. Nearby county birding groups, as part of Cornel Lab’s Global Big Day, were having a bit of a friendly competition to see which county teams counted the most birds on May 11.

We started with two Snyder County teams that I knew of, but anyone entering their data on eBird counted toward the total, and it turned out a good number of birders were out in the County that day. Thanks to everyone, we officially counted a total of 135 species in Snyder County in one day. Out of the sixty seven counties in Pennsylvania, we landed solidly in the top ten at number eight! So much fun. Including some surprises like this adult and baby Barred Owl (in two different places):

Now, on a big day, every species counts, not just rarities like the owls or the wood warblers migrating through, but the robins in your yard, the cardinals, grackles, and starlings as well. Did you know there are two species of crows in Pennsylvania? Fish Crow and American Crow. Most of us can only tell the difference when we hear them call. The fish crow is more nasal in its sound, and often can be heard telling you no with a sort of two note “uh uh.”

So, to bring a long story to a quick close and a bad punch line, you could say that Saturday, I wasn’t here because I was literally out counting crows.

And so, of course, today’s song of the day has to be by them. Now, I know that Mr. Jones was out birding on Saturday. Maybe not in Snyder County, but statistically speaking, a small percentage of the nearly 60,000 people birding on Global Big Day just had to be named Jones. Right?

Fake Your Beauty, by Bertine

When I was waiting tables at a (slightly upscale) restaurant back in 2013, I had a shift supervisor who was older and super classy in her appearance at all times. She made sure the dining rooms were decorated exquisitely, and she never showed a wrinkle on her clothing. You could cut yourself on the creases of her pant legs. Her name was Candy, and she could be sweet, but she could also be tough as nails. Lucky for me, I was one of her favorites.

You may recall, dear reader and listener of JSOD, that I said I used to speak song lyrics to my coworkers. I also was known for singing and maybe slightly changing the lyrics when it suited me, mostly in an attempt to make my fellow servers laugh, but also to keep me smiling during a stressful lunch hour. When Barry Manilow was singing over the restaurant speakers, I’d be singing my own version of the song. “Ready to Take a Chance Again” became “Ready to change my pants again,” and so on.

I also enjoyed sort of “voguing” to this song, even in front of Candy herself:

Sweet like candy
Yeah I can be
Fake your beauty
Smiling sweetly
Yours completely
Fake your beauty
Baby, baby bubblegum
Tell me are we havin’ fun

And with that image in your head, I give you, for your dancing and dining pleasure, Norwegian born pop star Bertine Zetlitz and her fabulous song from her 2004 album, Rollerskating: “Fake Your Beauty.” If it’s new to you, you are very welcome. As a two-for-Tuesday bonus, I’m adding an even more sarcastic song called “Apples and Diamonds” from 1998, a single from the album Morbid Latenight Show. Had you asked her to run away with you back then, she might have said no because she had:

. . . apples and diamonds
To last me a year
So frankly I’m quite comfortable here
But if you whisper my name and promise you won’t cling
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad
With a fling.

Lost in the Light, Bahamas

Sometimes you just fall in love with a song and you can’t explain why. Something about the lyrics and the music meld together in a perfect union. That’s how I feel about today’s song. I don’t even know where I first came across this, so if you shared it with me, thank you. All I Know is that it was written in my notes for Jeff’s Song of the Day.

My sister Brenda said she spoke to Jeff this weekend and had a wonderful conversation. Despite his failing memories, his physical health is good. This was the longest conversation she’d had with him in a while. I know what she means. Usually, when he’d done with you on a phone call, he just said, “Okay, bye,” or sometimes he just hangs up or hands the phone back to one of his nurses. She’d asked if he had a message for anyone and he said, “Yeah, tell Dad that I love him.”

I hadn’t even planned on this, but maybe the song title “Lost in the Light” is appropriate after all. The nurses have described Jeff’s usual state of mind to me as “happily confused.” So, we can be grateful for the days he wants to have a long conversation. Grateful that he’s eating and gained healthy weight. And if he’s feeling a bit lost, perhaps he’s lost in the light. At least he knows he’s loved and cared for.

Bahamas is the band name for Afie Jurvanen, singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music is classified as folk, but there’s definitely some soul to this tune, some gospel, and the harmonies with the backup singers are amazing.